Bereavement during lockdown: the potential impact of COVID-19 restrictions on grief and post-traumatic stress disorder in a Turkish-Muslim population

Abstract

The current study examined whether disruption to performing Islamic death rituals could be linked to core bereavement and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in Turkish-Muslim individuals who lost their close relatives to COVID-19. Participants (n = 52) completed a Demographic Information and Bereavement Experience (DIBEF) form with items probing demographics, attendance to rituals, receiving social support, and perceived disruption to bereavement via COVID-19 restrictions. The Core Bereavement Items (CBI) and the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) were used to measure symptomatology. The results showed that 92.3% of the participants did not receive condolence visitors, 98.1% failed to say goodbye, and 78.8% could not practice their religious duties. Importantly, perceived disruption score was significantly linked to the CBI (but not PCL-C) scores. The potential role of perceived disruption to bereavement in aggravating the grief response is discussed in relation to the dual process model of coping with bereavement.